The use of tobacco by placing a small quantity of finely chopped tobacco product between the user's lower lip or cheek and gum dates back far past the existence of recorded patents. Accordingly, for a prolonged history, there have been containers for carrying the finely chopped tobacco product. Generally speaking, those containers have included flexible pouches and rigid “tins” or boxes. Though there have been advances in technology for these containers, such advances have been relatively limited.
In the instance of pouches, paper pouches lined with aluminum, plastic, and other hermetically impermeable substances have been used to carry the tobacco. These pouches allow the user to manually compress the tobacco within the hermetically sealed pouch minimizing the exposure of the finely chopped tobacco to air. The misfortune of these hermetically sealed pouches is that they are bulky, subject to tear, and when used to access the tobacco, retain a residue of tobacco on the upper surfaces of the pouch that unnecessarily soils the hand of the user.
Also, many tobacco users seek a level of discretion when using a tobacco product. To some, tobacco use in public may be perceived as offensive or rude and anything that calls attention to the act is not desired. The use of a hermetically sealed pouch usually involves unrolling the pouch which historically was designed to be large enough to insert the entire hand, use the tobacco, roll up the pouch and put the pouch away. Typically the pouch was so large that it was difficult to place the pouch into a user's pants pocket because of its size.
The most recent and technologically advanced container for chopped tobacco is a small shallow cylindrical container having a detachable lid. Such containers are typically made of plastic to help isolate the tobacco from the atmosphere. Of course, even with these containers, the interior of the container is exposed to the atmosphere when the lid is opened. Also, as the containers are designed to fit within the back pockets of a user's pants, the container is typically sized to a diameter which will fit comfortably within the grip of a user's hand. However, once the lid is opened, it is not uncommon that the finely chopped tobacco will not spill due to the loose arrangement of the tobacco within the plastic container. After any use of the product, the finely ground tobacco becomes more loosely arranged within the container and thus has more surface area of the tobacco particulate that is exposed to the atmosphere.
In sum, the current containers do not keep the finely ground tobacco compacted. It is this compaction that is necessary to minimize the exposure of the finely ground tobacco surfaces to the atmosphere. Also compaction makes it much easier for the user to pinch a portion of the tobacco between his or her thumb and forefinger to remove the tobacco from the can. Currently, it is common for users to hold the container with the lid on and “pop” the container with a short brisk repetitive motion of the arm. The movement compacts the tobacco momentarily within the can using inertia. The compaction is not necessarily complete and the action of compacting the tobacco in this manner again attracts attention to other people near the tobacco user.
These inventors have conducted a search to determine what, if any, prior art exists relative to containers for storing and/or compacting finely chopped or granulated product. The patents produced by this search are listed as follows:
PATENT NO.INVENTORU.S. Pat. No. 6,923,347 B2 toWinckelsU.S. Pat. No. 6,918,511 B1 toSpatz, et alU.S. Pat. No. 3,901,414 toCapra, et alJP Patent No. 9295674JP Patent No. 2006056592